Young Writers Society

Top 40 Writing Advice

1. All good stories flow from a good title.
2. Overly detailed description makes your world real to your reader.
3. The best characters motives are a mystery to your reader, they draw your reader in.
4. Preteens in the book should always have a better understanding of the situation than any adult.
5. Character flaws are for babies; make all of your characters perfect.

6. Your character should know everything that's going on whenever anything happens.
7. It is totally fine to change tenses in the middle of your chapter; the readers like a switch-up!
8. Your first draft is always the best draft -- don't let rewrites hide your true genius.
9. Accepting writing critique lets everyone know that you are a flawed writer, so don't take others' advice into account.
10. Always change perspective in the middle of your novel -- don't go back to the original point of view.

11. Keep your reader on your toes by making plot twists happen every other chapter.
12. Ending on cliffhangers is a good way to make your reader love you.
13. All good conflict starts with the main character's parents dying at the very beginning. No exceptions.
14. Killing the characters everyone loves is a legitimate way to make your readers love you. Just don't bring them back to life two chapters later - that's boring.
15. As an ending resolution, your character's life should go back to the way it started in the beginning as if nothing ever happened.

16. Sad back stories are better than any other backstory.
17. Always, ALWAYS, murder your MC's favourite [insert person/animal/object here]. That's the fun part.
18. Never give anything away to your reader -- leave them in the dark!
19. Whenever making a new language in your novel, don't give the reader any clues about what the words mean. The fun part is the puzzle of trying to figure out what you're saying!
20. Fantasy is not fantasy without flying dragons and a mountain called Mordor/Doom/or something dark.

21. Create new fantasy/sci fi creatures and never, ever explain them or mention them again. The readers love that.
22. Periodically change the names of your characters, but play it off as if their name was like that the entire time. Using the same name is so boring.
23. A story must have some kind of romance in it.
24. Kill off the love interest. Who needs them distracting your main character?
25. Bring back the love interest several chapters later - distractions are the best.

26. Repeat these steps several times throughout the novel so that your reader can really feel and empathize with the angst.
27. And at the last possible moment, kill your MC and make all your readers cry about it.
28. Bring the MC back in the epilogue, sad endings are always the worst.
29. If your story is first person, you have to start out with, "Hi, my name is [insert your character's name here]. I am [insert age here]. [Insert living situation, family members, and love interest.]
30. Oh, if you're writing a sequel, kill your MC off in the first chapter. Then write from a random point of view until you bring them back. Or, you know, don't bring them back. Because the readers just LOVE that.

31. In fantasy, name all your places/important items really complicated things with at least four vowels smushed together. Such as Kaiehlandiauon.
32. If you're writing fantasy, a character has to have their name have an apostrophe in it. It's a rule. The first one, in fact.
33: Your main character needs to be the Chosen One. Even in realistic fiction.
34. Random talking animals used to guide your main characters are really good ways to advance the plot. This works in realistic fiction as well.
35. Vampires. You heard me. Vampires. Like Edward Cullen. Just make 'em sparkle!

36. Stereotypes never fail. As long as they're not /too/ offensive (a little is alright).
37. Your main character cannot live without their love interest.
38. The number 7 is bad luck in any story, so you must include that somewhere. (We're talking to you, JK Rowling.)
39. The weight of the world has to be on your MC's shoulders.
40. You can totally end your story with a dream. Do it. Or begin it with one. Totally.

This has been made with the help of @ScarlettFire and @Wolfare1, the best writers out there!

Feel free to use any and all of these in your next novel.

hahaha, I hope this is taken down after Aprils Fool. I almost started taking notes.

Wait, am I a party pooper? lol. Vampires.

OMG, this this solves all my writing problems EVER!!!!

@TriSARAHtops, vampires and talking animals solve everything.

I know right? Don't know how I was getting by without them.

You're welcome, Sarah^^ I am glad we helped enlighten the world of writers.

12. Ending on cliffhangers is a good way to make your reader love you.

Everyone loves mine.

Noelle wrote:

12. Ending on cliffhangers is a good way to make your reader love you.

Everyone loves mine.

That, my dear @Noelle, is FALSENESS!! As a reader, I hate them, but as a writer, i commend you!

This is great. I wrote a story on this and it ended up coming out just like The Maze Runner, sin the talking animals! (There were crawling bug things instead; I hope that meets the requirements.) On that note: you forgot to add "make your character wake up remembering nothing but their name about them because character development is for losers!"

Killing your MC is the writers' new black. Everyone should totes do it and look cool.

But @Pompadour, unless you revive them or it's at the end of the last novel, it won't work! How else will you get people to read your sequel series, silly?

@Arkhaion, @Pompadour, but get this -- what if the main character dying was actually a dream?